advice on midrange 'action' cams?

[Fred3606]

Hi all,
I have been looking on eBay recently for 'action cams' but it seems to be saturated with a huge amount of cheaper brands.
Does anyone have any recommendations for brands/products within the 20-50 quid range (second hand)? I don't intend on vlogging or anything, just wanting to look back at anything interesting for my own entertainment but I'd still like to be able to make things out without ridiculously low res or blur. If possible I also wouldn't want it to be too large.
Any thoughts/advice appreciated. Thanks in advance,
Fred
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[Fat Angry Scotsman]

Going to have to increase your budget for anything that is actually mid-range (even second hand).

The thing that always fucks you on cheap action cams isn't resolution, you can get a new 4K resolution action cam brand new for £50 but it will still blur. Not because of resolution but because of bit-rate.

This is a mid-range action camera but it's £140 and would be alright but probably shit at low light levels.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AKASO-Waterproof-Navitve-Underwater-Batteries/dp/B0881FLJ1Q/ref=asc_df_B0881FLJ1Q/

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you're going to struggle hard on that budget as it barely gets you a new camera in the bargain bucket economy range of the spectrum.
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PRESENT: 2018 BMW S1000XR SE Sport.
PAST: 2009 Kawasaki ER-6F. 2021 Zontes ZT-125U.

[ThunderGuts]

To be honest, unless you're very determined I really do think even good action cams are a lot of effort for not much return. To give an idea;

- You need a half decent camera in the first place (so you're probably looking at a GoPro type - no idea what third party offerings are available, but as FAS has already said, it's not just the resolution, you need ability to process it, frame rate and optics that are half decent. Plus something waterproof).
- You need mounting options to make it work (chest strap, bar mounts etc..)
- Unless others are better, you'll need a load of spare batteries as they last less than an hour normally
- You need a decent size memory card to capture all the footage it makes
- You need a powerful computer to process said footage (and it's surprising just how much computer spec you need!)
- You need patience to trawl through it all and find the bits you want

It can be rewarding if you get it right, but don't underestimate the level of faff or "peripheral spending" that's required.
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TG.

[Fred3606]

Thanks for the reply, I may increase my budget a little and keep looking.
I think I've seen akaso pop up a bit, any brands to look out for when searching?
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[Fat Angry Scotsman]

[doggone]

Well don't be tempted by older versions of gopro they are shit.
Far too good at crashing so you have to take battery out to reboot.
Battery life is diabolical too
The newer ones are probably better but not infallible from what I hear and too expensive.

I have an DJI Osmo Action I like a lot but not to use on helmet, I sometimes mount it on handlebars ram mount if going through a scenic or bendy stretch. It has never crashed and battery life is much more realistic up to two hours
They can be had new around £200 and I see some refurbs less than that seems a reasonable deal.

I do agree with points above you don't just buy a camera and get something worthwhile out of it. It takes a bit of trial and error to work out how to edit sections you want, add or remove audio then render your finished masterpiece. Then are you going to upload it to youtube or put it on facebook where it will still look crap unless your rendering was spot on.
Video files are large and demanding even at 1080p, and you need a decent PC to work with them or it will be very frustrating.

[ThunderGuts]

[steve the grease]

Don't make my mistake and buy a super cheap one, not worth it , the vibration on the bike destroyed the wifi link after the first run out. *

I bought an OLFI for about £150 and have been very pleased with it.


* That said you can have it for a tenner plus post if you want. Its a 'Konig CSAW100' As the wifi is us you have to take the card out. It has a spare battery.
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All the above is my personal opinion, you can see my lips move, but I'm talking out of my arse.
I've been riding, and fixing , bikes for 50 years, in that time the more I learn, the less I am absolutely sure of.....

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

I’ve dabbled with cheapish action cams (the last was a Goodman’s Go-Pro looky-likey; felt like quality but limited by the technology, and they haven’t improved much over the years either.) They we’re all briefly fun but quickly disappointing. Apart from the frame rate, battery life, image and sound quality there’s not much to see on your average trip, which is why you’ll see some YouTubers making an incident out of nothing. (Colchester cyclist Wolf Simpson, for example.)

The best I tried was a proper compact digital camera on a small tripod mounted to the tank and looking through the screen.* Even then, the effect of the lens, the way houses wizzed by, made it look like I was speeding when I wasn’t. I reckon any jury seeing the ‘evidence’ of another road user’s misdemeanours would just think I was at fault. Distances are also distorted.

* Unfortunately the screen is purple, but it came with the bike and I grew used to it so I’m not changing it.

[Andy_Pagin]

[jeffyjeff]

Here are two examples that show the difference between a low end and mid range action cameras.

The Vionmio was marketed as a spy cam or nanny cam. I bought it to keep an eye on the house on occasions when I am away. It is definitely not an action camera. But it is small, light, and at around $50, pretty affordable. It came with a clip that allows me to attach it to my helmet visor, so I put it to use on the bike. Here is an example of the video recording. https://youtu.be/pvnbo7Naj6E

After using the Vionmio for awhile, I decided to upgrade. I paid $339 for the DJI Action2. It has a ton of features, including adjustable frame rate and resolution. This clip was recorded at 1080P and 30 frames/second, which yeilds about 55 minutes continuous recording before battery life expires. A power pack piggy backs onto the cam that is good for 2 or 3 recharges. https://youtu.be/WaXm0Yj97iQ

In either case, the quality of resolution seems to tank when I edit the video down and post it to Youtube. Not sure if the editing software or Youtube is to blame for that. Take it for what it's worth. I'm mostly happy with the DJI, except that it overheats on hot days and stops recording. We had some 40 degree C days in Morocco this July, and I missed some good scenes because the camera quit working. Darn.
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History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of men - BOC

[grr666]

I got an used older Gopro Hero+ on ebay as a second camera to fix to to the bike in conjunction with my lid cam. Someone
bought it for a holiday then didn't use it again. It was as new, not a mark on it with a FULL set of mounts inc chest
mount, floats and selfie sticks etc for just £40. The app still supports it, can use my phone as a screen/monitor via bluetooth
and the image quality is decent. It's waterproof too.
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[Fat Angry Scotsman]

[doggone]

[jeffyjeff]

[jeffyjeff]

I think I need to experiment with the DJI a little more. The adjustments allow for frame rates from 24 to 240 frames/second, and resolution from 1080P to 4K. Initially, I chose the low resolution and lower frame rate to extend recording time. That yields acceptable video on my computer. But the result is many miles of boring video that needs to be edited to access the good stuff. Yes, it is good to have the camera on and recording when something interesting comes along, (most times those unique, interesting moments are not repeatable) but you have to record a lot of crap to get there. Maybe I need to rethink my objective and strategy for recording motorcycle rides.
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History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of men - BOC

[doggone]

The frame rate is Ok and maybe better left on 24 or 25 unless you want to slow something down.
On the Osmo Action I usually record at 1440p - 4K does use battery and space a lot faster.
Mini SD cards are relative cheap these days get a V30 one ideally and 128GB is a decent size

[jeffyjeff]

memory is crazy cheap these days. I got a 128GB micro SD (EVO required by DJI) for $16 from Amazon. It holds enough to go through 3 battery charges before I have to download to my computer.
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History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of men - BOC

[Hetzer]

Cheap cam = cheap CMOS, so even with a good card you'll get that 'stepping' playback (I fucking hate that shit).

I have a GoPro 7 and it's damn good, the stabilization of it is nothing short of incredible (I see the camera jerking about on the bike but the footage is 100% smooth bar potholes).

Battery life is crap so you'll need spares. The onboard mic is good for static stuff but when moving you'll need a separate mic system. I use the RODE stuff, it's superb but not cheap.

For editing I use Filmora (superb). For processing, the lower your PC spec the longer it'll take to export the finished video. So crap PC = patience needed. For an idea, I have an i5 8600k at 5ghz and an RTX 3080Ti, a six minute vid takes about 1.5 minutes to export.

If you're not planning on public viewings (youtube etc) any old crap will probably do you though.
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